The Survivor Becomes a Dungeon

Krys POV

Krys woke with a start as he was gently shaken out of sleep, opening his eyes in the faintly illuminated darkness around him, the only light being what crystal light bled through the blanket that made up the door for the magically built stone hut. Looking around for what woke him, he glanced up and met Ren's gaze, his sister's ears waggling a little with delight as she flashed a smile. "Good morning Krys." She said softly as she pulled away, her tail slowly swaying and curling behind her.

Krys couldn't help but return the smile, yawning a bit as he stretched and popped his back, his ears noticeably flicking as he popped his back and found some relief before sitting up. "Good morning..." He said as he yawned a little more. Despite just barely waking up, he found himself more aware and alert than usual, and not in a bad way as he just felt better than he had been in a very long time. Looking back at Ren, he noted her now distinctly green eye before looking her over curiously. "How do you feel? Better? Worse? Different?"

Ren still had a smile on her face as he tilted her head from side to side. "I feel... Different, a good different, but different all the same." She explained before turning her attention to her bedroll as she started packing things up.

Krys laid on his back for a little while longer just relaxing as he considered how his body felt; though, after a few moments, he realized something as he sat up to watch Ren again. "Why'd you wake me?"

She kinda shrugged after seemingly thinking on it for a moment. "Well, I just figured we should wake up now... Rantz and his party are already up and Vito is packing the camp away." She explained as she sat cross-legged, pulling her bedroll in her lap as she did her best to tie it up again, struggling a little bit with the knots.

Krys blinked a couple of times before standing as he peeked outside, sure enough just about everyone else was already up, even Sera and Zax were out helping where they could. At first, he wondered just how exhausted he was after forming that bond with Vito to end up being one of the last ones to wake up, but then he noticed that the sun wasn't even up yet so he figured this was the usual time he'd be up anyways and everyone else was just up extra earlier for some reason. With a sigh, he pulled away from the curtain and went about packing his own bedroll before looking at Ren again. "How long have you been up anyway?"

She hummed for a moment, her tail curling in thought as her little fingers fiddled with putting together a knot. "Not too long, maybe thirty minutes?" She mentioned, looking up to Krys for a moment before looking back down to her bedroll. "Mister Vito said to let you rest a little while longer since the process for forming a bond exhausts those on the receiving end." She explained as she finally managed to properly roll up her bedroll before strapping it to her pack. "Anyway, you should hurry before breakfast gets cold, Rantz made biscuit sandwiches with sausage and a really nice gravy."

At the mention of food, Krys' stomach quietly rumbled as if on cue as he just chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah, food sounds pretty good right now." He mused a little before strapping his bedroll onto his pack and standing, joining Ren as she waited for him by the curtain.

Making their way out, they watched as the walls that surrounded the camp were slowly pulled into nothingness. Aside from the stone hut they were staying in, the only signs that anyone even stayed in the clearing were their tracks and the fact that the grass was cut short, even the fireplace was practically indistinguishable from the rest of the dirt and grass around it.

Ren walked off towards the carriages, meeting with Lostrill who helpfully took her pack and loaded it into the carriage before helping her up into it.

After Ren had left, Krys looked around, wondering where the food was when Sera walked up, procuring something wrapped in wax paper from somewhere as she flashed a little smile. "Morning, I missed you last night... I didn't realize you were planning on turning in so early." She mused, stepping in close as she affectionately kissed his jawline before placing the food in his hand.

Krys' tail flicked behind him at the kiss as he just smiled a bit while taking up the food. "Sorry about that, some stuff happened last night and it left me more exhausted than I realized." He explained as he unwrapped the wax paper and took a slow inhale through his nose as he savored the scent of the meat and gravy before taking a bite of the food.

Sera let out a huff of mock annoyance before running her fingers through her own hair and flashing a mischievous grin. "Oh well, I suppose there is always tonight. I'd much prefer an inn than open air." She mused before looking up into his eyes, though it was at that point she quirked a brow before reaching up and gently grabbed his face with both hands. Her touch was light yet firm as she carefully made him look down more directly at her. "Since when did you have a green eye?" She asked in an almost silent whisper.

Krys wasn't sure what to respond to first, his tail having been initially swaying at what she had been implying a moment earlier, though now he was desperately trying to chew faster to finish what he had in his mouth without choking. After another moment, he spoke up while still maintaining eye contact with her. "It was part of the deal with Boss Vito..." He started to say before considering how he should phrase what happened last night. "I formed some kind of pact with him, and so did Ren. He gave us some kind of power that allowed us to ignite a manaheart and now we're bonded to him." He said softly, doing his best to explain what he understood from last night. "I was worried too, but he said it was some kind of familial bond rather than that of a servant or a slave."

Sera frowned a bit, though she considered everything she just heard before leaning her head into his chest and huffing a bit. "Did he cure your sister?" She asked under her breath.

He nodded slowly while bringing up his free hand to gently rub her upper back. "Yeah... He could tell that our mom was sick during her pregnancy with Ren and that Ren herself was a sick child after less than two minutes of looking at her. He gave me two ways to cure her, the slow and mundane method that will barely get her stable or an effective way with magic that may give her a chance at living like others or maybe more."

Sera nodded intently, looking admittedly more relaxed as she looked back up into his eyes. "Well... At the very least the green eye doesn't ruin your good looks." She mused playfully before pulling away.

Krys couldn't help but chuckle at that as he smiled. "I suppose that's the only thing that matters at the end of the day." He mused back, closing the distance for a moment to kiss her forehead before going back to his food.

Vitmori POV

We were back on the road first thing in the morning with Riley still taking the reins on the lead carriage, while Rantz drove the second carriage himself. This split up the group between the carriages, with Cecil and Lily following Rantz to the rear carriage while Krys and his team sat together in the front carriage.

Lostrill for his part was sitting up front with Riley, the two of them discussing something or another while he sketched in a journal he had on him.

As for me, I was riding Legosi as he ran along with the small caravan, Basmori sitting cozily in my lap as we made our way down the dirt road. Freyli, for her part, was among Rantz's group, watching as Cecil played against Rantz using that enchanted chessboard again.

The next couple hours go by as the sun crests the horizon, the morning light gradually warming the crisp autumn air. Everything was relatively quiet with only the sounds of chivosteid hooves, wheels on dirt and gravel, and birdsong filling the air. It was a clear day so far, with minimal cloud coverage with what should be an absolutely beautiful view of practically untouched, wild forests with the beauty of a practically glowing horizon.

The only problem is the thick plumes of black and gray smoke on the horizon directly in our path. I've seen many kinds of smoke throughout my life, and I know what causes certain kinds of smoke and what signs to look for when seeing smoke in the distance.

Riding up alongside Riley, I could already sense her unease as she looked over at me on my approach. "Tell me... Does the village ahead have any major foundries or happen to specialize in charcoal production... or anything like that at all?"

She looked between me and the smoke ahead of us before looking back at me again. "N-no Sir... It does not." She said, swallowing as she did her best to portray a professional stoicism for her own sake at least.

By now, everyone had seen the plumes of smoke in the distance and I could tell they were all forming their own ideas on what may possibly be happening. Despite what was going on in the distance, I could feel both Krys and Cecil watching me with intent curiosity to see what I planned on doing.

There really was only one thing for me to do about it, and that was to go scout things out myself. "Alright everyone, I'll be riding on ahead to see what's going on, keep your current pace and remain vigilant." I then looked over to Krys, physically pointing at him before pointing to my own ear. "If anything happens that I need you all to know about, I'll be reaching out to you in particular. Just keep an open mind and you'll hear my voice if it comes down to it." With that, I got nods of confirmation from the group, even if I could tell there were some who were confused by what I said to Krys.

Looking down at Legosi, I gently ruffled the fur along his neck before looking ahead of us. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to need you to give it everything you've got buddy."

Legosi just bobbed his head, and despite what I'd asked of him, I could only sense an anticipation and eagerness to see just what he could do if he pushed himself. In the next moment, I sensed his manaheart flare with vigor, the mana coursing through his blood as he physically charged himself up before breaking out in a full sprint.

If I thought we were going casual motorway speeds several days ago on our way to Sunspot Keep, then this time we were really racing along as Legosi practically launched himself into speeds I could say rivaled that of a cheetah. It was to the point where I had to lean forward into him so I wouldn't slow him down, the wind whistling in my ears as I could hear my cape flapping noisily behind me.

At first, I was worried that Legosi was pushing himself too hard, but it was clear to me that despite giving me all he's got, he was exhilarated. His mind was racing as fast as his body as he took in all sorts of scents and sensations with each and every single inhale and exhale. The information was mind-boggling and even I was struggling to process everything he was taking in.

As the seconds turned to minutes, Legosi kept up his ridiculous pace as his manaheart pulsed with vigor, though despite how hard he was working himself I could see through our bond that Legosi was just shredding his muscles faster than his body could naturally heal them. He kept pushing on, not asking for a break due to simply not wanting to let me down. As much as I could appreciate and understand his mindset, I couldn't bring myself to tell him to stop or pace himself simply due to the fact I knew I would have been pushing myself just as hard back when I was just a normal man when it came to there being lives on the line.

We were quickly closing in on the source of the smoke ahead of us, the acrid scent reaching even my nose as the winds started blowing our way. As the smell of smoke practically clouded my senses, I sensed Legosi pick out a faint whiff of a scent intermingled with all the other overwhelming scents the wind was carrying, and that was the scent of blood.

Legosi came to a skidding halt, almost drifting on his paws through the dirt as he took a hard left through the treeline, following the scent of blood until we came across someone sprawled out in the dirt and grass.

Smoothly hopping off his back, I closed the distance, looking over the figure as I took a knee beside her. It was some kind of catkin girl and she was drenched in blood, her grayish fur looking more brown and red with the mix of drying and somewhat fresh blood that slowly oozed from her wounds, though I could tell that most of it was likely not hers based on where the blood was on her body, surprisingly enough the wounds with arrows that stuck out of her back had already closed around the arrows, so it's likely she has a manaheart if her body manage to heal over that kind of damage already.

Just a few feet behind her was a massive blade that looked vaguely unwieldy for a girl her age, though it would fit Reonim like a regular longsword if I had to consider the general scale of weapons from person to person.

After examining her for those few seconds, I reached out to start healing her where I could and do a closer examination of the kind of damage she suffered, but as I touched her, her body seemed to unconsciously react as she cried out with fury and fear, flinging something that was clutched in her right hand with an amount of force and speed that I wasn't expecting.

In the next moment, a small clay jar smashed against my left shoulder before I could even realize that she was throwing something at me. Before I knew it, my left arm had melted off as some kind of acid began hungrily eating through my wooden flesh. Despite the direness of the situation, I managed to quickly conjure a ball of water and promptly started soaking myself in order to dilute the acid. "Damn... I really should try to figure out a proper defense for this..." I murmur to nobody in particular.

While I could regrow the arm, the shirt Miriam had made for me was completely ruined for sure. Thankfully, the cloak seemed to be relatively untouched, with only a couple of holes here and there but nothing particularly noticeable as far as I could tell.

"Vitmori! Are you okay?" Legosi asked frantically, halfway between snarling at the girl while looking at me with concern, not entirely sure what he should do as his hackles visibly rose up along his back.

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay…” I say after a moment while looking over my half dissolved torso. I take a few moments to try and repair myself, but I don’t bother wasting the mana to rebuild my arm since I don’t really know just how much mana I’m going to need in actual combat.

Glancing over at Legosi again, I flashed a small smile before suddenly noticing Basmori stepping out from Legosi’s shadow, looking expressly concerned for me. I couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of him and rubbed the back of my head with my remaining hand. “You really have a bad habit of following when you shouldn’t, don’t ya? I should’ve known you were tagging along when you suddenly disappeared.” Glancing around at the woods around me I look back to Basmori again. “Stay close or stay in my shadow at all times, we’re going into an actual fight and even though you have experience hunting, this will be something completely different, understand?”

Basmori looked hesitant for a moment, but nodded resolutely before striding forward and ducking into my shadow.

With him taken care of for the moment, I turned my attention back towards the catkin girl and looked her over again; she had collapsed once more and didn’t look like she had it in her to lash out again. Placing my hand against her shoulder and running my mana through her body, I find that she has just a considerable amount of damage. Between the blood loss, shredded muscles, the arrows her body healed over and all sorts of bruising and fractures littered over within her body.

I set about fixing what I can to at least stabilize her, swiftly pulling the arrows out from her back and shoulder while mending her skin and bones. It’s ultimately quick and dirty, but at the very least it doesn’t look like she’ll fade from life if I were to glance away.

As I started to pull my hand back, I’m once again surprised as the catkin suddenly reached out for me, grabbing me by my shirt collar and pulling me down to look her right in the eyes. Her gaze is unfocused and her eyes are erratically dilated, she slurs her words, mumbling desperately as she tries to get her message across. Thankfully I don’t need to hear her words to get her message as it comes clear through her thoughts. ‘Save my home.’ With that, she falls back into unconsciousness again.

Standing tall, I looked to Legosi and reached out, ruffling the fur on his head. “Take her back to the caravan as soon as you can. But don’t push yourself if you need time to recover. If anything you can just wave them down when they come along… For now, rehydrate and recover.” I instructed, pulling a stone bowl from my storage as I poured out the mana potions the Crucible Master’s assistant had me drink a couple days ago along with some fresh water.

Legosi looked admittedly reluctant, but he didn’t argue as I could sense him gauging his currently shaky and sore limbs. After a moment he simply bobbed his head in understanding. “Very well Vitmori… I shall do as you say.” With that, he made his way over to the basin and began lapping down the water and potions.

Looking down at my ruined shirt, I decided to just stash it away along with my cloak before pulling on my black poncho. It was admittedly still rather singed with burns and torn from when I made use of the fabric for various things, but it still covered more than the shirt.

Taking a pointless breath, I scooped up the catkin’s blade and stashed it away before starting to sprint towards the smoke which filled the sky.